Walmer Cemetery Records prior 1840

[DeeWhy]

I am trying to locate birth and death records and possible parents of one Thomas Edwards of Kent. The earliest records I have are as follows.

According to FamilySearch.org Thomas Edwards married Susanna Pladge on 25 Dec 1819 in Folkestone, Kent. They had three children, William born 27 Sep 1820 (my wife's great grandfather), Thomas born 30 Mar 1822 and Mary Ann born 21 Mar 1824 all at Seagate Street, Folkestone. When his son Thomas married Sophia Hudson in 1840 in Shoreditch, London his father is recorded as being deceased. (The 1841 census records Thomas and Sophia as living in Dover.)

I have been unable to locate any positive record of the death of Thomas Edwards between 1824 and 1840 which might lead to establishing his birth details except for one possibility of a Thomas Edwards who was buried at Walmer, Kent on 19 Aug 1828 age 31 years which places his birth around 1796-97.

Can someone possibly help me ascertain if the records indicate that this Thomas Edwards had a wife named Susanna and any other details.

Many thanks in advance

Peter

[casalguidi]

PLEDGE (not PLADGE) immediately springs to mind as a well known Folkestone baptist family and checking http://www.familysearch.org confirms the three children of Thomas and Susanna were baptised baptists.  There is a little hidden baptist graveyard in Folkestone, I wonder if he was buried there http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=10974.0

The heritage room at Folkestone library certainly have a plan of the tombstones there at one time, they may well have burial transcripts too so I suggest trying there before looking elsewhere for his burial http://www.kent.gov.uk/KCC.Libraries.Web.Sites.Public/LibraryDetails.aspx?aid=0&lid=32

It looks to me as though Susanna remarried Richard COLLIER in Folkestone 1835 http://www.familysearch.org

1841 Seagate Street, Folkestone

Richard COLLIER 45 draper not born in Kent
Susanna 43 b.Kent
Richard 3 b.Kent
Mary 2 b.Kent
William EDWARDS 21 shopman b.Kent
/
Susanna PILCHER 21 shopwoman b.Kent
Margaret HOGBEN 20 female servant b.Kent
John CRAMP 40 dissenting preacher b.Kent
Ann SERGENT 60 not born in Kent
HO107/477 book 27 folio 39 page 30
.................

There is a will or administration etc. for a Thomas EDWARDS of Folkestone 1825 which may or may not be relevant http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/ekwills_a/series/ekp_p2/ekp_p2n_dr.htm

Incidentally, the baptism registers for the three EDWARDS children give the maternal grandmother's name as Ann PLEDGE.

Rich. COLLIER of Folkestone, bachelor to marry Sus. EDWARDS of Folkestone, widow at Folkestone.  Marriage lic. granted 18 Feb 1835.

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Casalguidi

[AJ100]

Hello Peter

Not a lot of help but I can confirm from St Mary's Walmer Parish records that Thomas Edwards was buried, as you say, on 19th August 1828. He was aged 31 and from No 2 Battery at Word. Word is now called Worth, a village not far away and the fact that he was based at the Battery there implies that he was a Coastguard.
No record of his wife Susanna remarrying or being buried there or at St Leonard's not far away.

Regards

AJ

[DeeWhy]

Thank you Casalguidi for your very helpful hints.

I will check with the contacts you have provided and will let you know the outcome in due course.

I thought it was possible that Susanna would re-marry and I should have picked that up from the 1841 census.

Yes of course it is PLEDGE that was a typo on my part. I have traced the Pledge family back to a Thomas Pledge born about 1720.

Regards

Peter

[DeeWhy]

Hello Casalguidi

I have received information from the heritage room at Folkestone library that Thomas Edwards is buried in the Baptist graveyard in Folkestone. Their reply included a scanned copy of the graveyard layout drawing which includes names of all those buried there. They also included a scanned copy of a page of the church minutes for 1825 which included the following entry:- "on Lords day Oct 9th died aged 33 our brother Thomas Edwards. He was universally beloved & his death will long be felt by us as a serious loss". This provides a possible birth date of 1792. From the graveyard plan I noticed that apart from there being five members of the Pledge family there is an M. A. Edwards which I believe could be Thomas's daughter Mary Ann.

I am still awaiting a reply from Kent Archives for over two weeks now requesting details of the will and the grant of probate for Thomas Edwards for which I supplied the necessary registeration details. Is this usual?

It would seem that Thomas was well regarded by the Baptist Church fraternity as I have discovered that he was appointed a trustee of the new Baptist Church at Battle, Sussex in 1821 recorded in 'The History of the Battle Baptist Church'.

I am still no closer to discovering Thomas's ancestors and where he was born however a year before Thomas's death, Pigot's 1824 directory of Kent, page 394, under the heading Folkestone, Linen Draper, is Thomas Edwards who I know was a draper. There are only two other drapers listed one of which is an Edward Edwards and I am curious whether they are related.

Regards

Peter